


OPERATION: Red Bull

by cxsmicskies



Series: bro, i think we should drop out [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Ateneo De Manila AU, Comedy, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Episodic Plot, Final Exam Woes, Gen, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun & Suh Youngho | Johnny Are Best Friends, M/M, Mentioned Dong Si Cheng | WinWin, Mentioned Kim Jongdae | Chen, Mentioned Mark Lee (NCT), Mentioned Qian Kun, Mentioned Sungchan (NCT), Non-Linear Narrative, Pining, Power of Friendship, Suh Youngho | Johnny and Nakamoto Yuta are dense idiots, no beta we die, procrastination
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:34:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27787582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cxsmicskies/pseuds/cxsmicskies
Summary: "Take the class they said. It’ll be chill they said. Look at me now." Yuta grumbles as he slices the clip, his irritation slowly morphing into horror as the darned loading cursor taunts him. A second passes then a minute and before he knows it, his program crashes and hours of work whoosh away with his hopes of graduating along with it.--In which, the boys just wanted an easy class with an equally chill professor but instead they get one of the legendary professors they do not want to disappoint. ever. so now it's a matter of flexing the crammage ability now powered up with three cans of red bull and the power of friendship to save the semester.
Series: bro, i think we should drop out [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032987
Kudos: 11
Collections: NCT Bigbang Round 1





	OPERATION: Red Bull

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Uh This story is lightly based on some university experiences I've encountered with my classmates and w o w I felt so much. 
> 
> Thank you so much for [Anne and the beautiful work they made for this fic](https://twitter.com/speckledsolana/status/1333075704443936768) and Shreya for being an amazing mod and managing this Big Bang (and for giving me a reason to finally write again.)
> 
> Final note: This is lightly based on Ateneo so only the setting, the course subject name, and enrollment mechanics were used here. I opted not to use the professors here and this story has no more association with ADMU ;u; Thank you and I hope you guys enjoy!

**I. ENROLLMENT DAY: Yuta’s Side**  
_T-MINUS 20 WEEKS UNTIL D-DAY_

There were multiple ways to tackle the most nerve-wracking day of your entire university life. 

No – it definitely wasn’t finals or the thesis defenses or that moment you realize you’ve got no more time to cram a confession for your crush you’ve been pining over for four years and you’re about to graduate and disappear from their lives forever. 

Okay, the last one may be too specific for Yuta’s liking but out of all the collegiate experiences one can have, the class enrollment days were another beast on its own. 

Some people go to church and offer as many prayers as they can so that they don’t get the terror professor that semester. Other people bank on the mirror sites that magically bypass the time slots given by the school administration just to check if the classes you wanted were still free by the afternoon batch. Even in the hour of desperation, one could even pray for their internet provider to not mess things up. 

Just as long as they don’t run out of slots for their selected class or worse - have another professor switch after the enrollment or be stuck in limbo with professors and lecture venues listed as “to be announced” until classes do begin.

That was a lesson Yuta and his friends had learned the hard way in their freshman year. Not only do freshmen have the last day in enrolling, they also have the worst time slots imaginable – with little to no leeway with the professors they can have or transfer out of. It was either more or less suffering but you’re going to struggle nonetheless and all you can do is cry on the second floor of Jollibee with your blockmates and make a pact to never experience that much terror again. 

Seniors on the other hand have it easier – if you were smart in your previous years, you would have enough free time for thesis cramming or better yet, a whole semester filled with easier majors or great free electives. That at least was the game plan they had ever since their Christmas break. 

Yuta Nakamoto, however, didn’t want to leave things to chance. He was a generally chill guy but it was a lot of hard work to maintain that status quo. Is that too much effort? Yes, but he did have to juggle the struggles of being a student athlete as well during their normal semesters so he might as well do it. 

He took all the relatively harder classes that didn’t have any prerequisites during the summer thus freeing up more time for his junior and senior year. His varsity commitments made it easier for him to juggle around the administrative limbo that is transferring classes if football’s season was coming around the corner. Plus, it was handy having a bright and pure smile that can soften up even the scariest of department secretaries. Maybe being roommates with the ever-reliable albeit eccentric Ten also helped, giving him random bursts of fresh perspectives when he needed it the most. (Why he’s called Ten, though, no one really knows but that’s a story all on its own.) 

So, the senior chose to haul his old but hard working laptop and his cup of coffee to the most reliable PC-bang that had to be equipped with the state-of-the-art fiber optics cables and one where his cellphone reception was at its peak. It was for his best interests after all. 

There was no way he was not going to get this class. 

He’s got instant ramyun he bought from the convenience store for breakfast, fast internet, a PC rented out as a back-up plan with the log-in page preloaded and his cheat sheet of classes and professors, the back-up professors, and the back-up of the back-up professors that he had selected for the easiest last semester ever. 

**II. DEATH IS UPON US: Boys’ Side - Special Edition**  
_T-MINUS 10 MINUTES UNTIL D-DAY_

It only took a moment for everyone to shuffle out of Taeyong’s car in battle formation. 

Honestly, thank god Kun decided to drive his roommate’s car, lest they endure Taeyong’s driving this early in the morning. Besides the obvious lack of sleep the four of them had, it would be a nightmare looking for a parking slot this late in the morning and it was only 7:50. How all the parking slots in sight were full? Taeyong didn’t even want to think about that.

He knows that he should be panicking right now and he definitely is on the inside but there was something rather comical or poetic – no, comically poetic about their situation. 

Taeyong can’t help but think as he follows behind his friends, slinging Yuta’s laptop bag and his own satchel on his shoulder while balancing a tray of take out coffee and a bag of breakfast bagels Kun had graciously ordered for them before ferrying them off to their doom. Funnily (or sadly, Taeyong wasn’t too sure), that was his reality at the moment.

It could be that Yuta’s dress shirt was on backwards and the tag and seams were out for everyone to see. It is also possible that their clothes were mixed up, seeing that Johnny was sporting slacks too short for his legs and Jaehyun was sporting slacks with a bit (a lot) of excess fabric pooling around his ankles.

Maybe it was the idea of a hoard of grown-ass men, huddled around another grown-ass man who happened to be cradling his laptop like it was the most precious thing in the universe. 

‘Wait… I’m one of those grown-ass men.’ Taeyong still wishes he can un-remember Johnny telling him to guard “Yuta’s laptop’s from behind” and resists the urge to smack his palm on his face. No – that wasn’t worth lost coffee and breakfast. 

Or it could be Johnny just being the most un-Johnny like he could possibly be. 

Yeah – that was definitely it. ‘We are fine. Totally fine. This is fine.’ Taeyong only had the heart to repeat that to himself. 

“OUT OF THE WAY! Jesus- FRESHMEN DO YOU REALLY NEED TO WALK IN BLOCKS?” Johnny’s voice echoed through the quadrangle as they rushed through the groups of students, maneuvering his way through the crowd as he channeled his inner Yuta during his football games. 

If anyone had told you that Youngho “Johnny” Suh, best, absolute, perfect student facilitator with the bright smile, had absolutely zero chill that moment, they would laugh at your face (maybe shed a tear or two), walk it off and treat it like a good joke. The man was a literal definition of cool under pressure for crying out loud. Mark, the group’s adorable token sophomore, would bet his chicken pops that Johnny would be the one pulling everyone’s shit together.

But there he was, walking protectively in front of their final grade- he means his good friend’s laptop- no wait that’s still wrong. 

Johnny was briskly walking in front of his friends, leading the turtle-like huddle around Yuta to their class’s building, Belarmine Hall, the horrible place furthest away from the rest of the university student population and more importantly from the student parking slots they had been dropped off at. 

Did Johnny ever mention he hated the school administration for allowing classes to happen in buildings this far away? It was possible. 

‘It’s okay we still haven’t heard the class bell we can make it. We can make it.’ He chanted to himself over and over, quickening his pace, and muttering something under his breath when he heard the dreaded bell chiming through the school’s speaker system. 

“SHIT! YUTA RUN THROUGH THE FIELD. YOU CAN MAKE IT. USE THOSE GOD-GIVEN SOCCER LEGS TO BRING YOU TO PROF. KWON!” 

“JOHNNY SHUT UP! THE STRESS IS AFFECTING THE BABY.” Yuta yells, widening his stride, dragging Jaehyun and his hard drives along with him. The stress wasn’t really affecting his laptop but the amount of RAM that went into rendering and processing their video definitely was. The stress was affecting him – he was the baby. The man still can’t help but feel betrayed by his laptop – they had both lived through Overwatch matches, rounds of League and cinematography classes Jaehyun convinced him to take one or two semesters ago but this? It was unacceptable. 

Still, Yuta stared at his screen, praying to every higher being for the progress bar to move, apologizing for calling his laptop a useless pile of circuitry. He can only try to gather all the happy places he can think of while ignoring and pushing aside the sinking feeling he had in his gut as he and his friends stepped into the building’s looming shadow. 

(“Hyung, has BEL always looked this dramatic?” 

“Jaehyun- sweetie, please. Not right now.”) 

Jaehyun was barely awake and was practically putting all of his energy into not crashing down to keep up with Yuta’s pace. But he also needed to do his assigned task of making sure his friend’s hard drives don’t disconnect at any point in time while he tried his last-ditch effort to render and export their final in time to present it. 

He thinks was doing a pretty darned good job at it if he does say so himself, especially with the random people from the hoard of students crossing the sidewalks, bump into his shoulders at times or when Yuta’s legs pick up the pace. 

He should have the utmost confidence that they will ace this class like all the others they’ve taken together in their nine years of knowing each other but he was also absolutely sure that the rendering percentage was stuck at 69% for the past thirty minutes now and he really, really, really needed Yuta’s laptop to work so that he can graduate with peace of mind.

Jaehyun really wanted to channel all the zen and inner wellness that his P.E. instructor had taught him last semester but amidst Yuta and Johnny’s panicked screeches, the people bumping into his shoulder while he’s trying to keep the darned hard drives attached to the darned laptop, and said laptop taunting him plus the fact that he looked horrible that morning? 

This was not going very well and he knocked on every door and wooden surface in Taeyong and Kun’s shared condo and the hallway leading to the elevator before they even got into the car for good luck. 

**III. INTERMISSION: Boys’ Side - Christmas Break Edition**  
_T-MINUS 22 WEEKS UNTIL D-DAY_

“What’re you going to take for free elective?” 

Jaehyun popped the question before taking a long sip from his boba, looking amongst his friends crammed together at their (ridiculously) small table at the milk tea shop near campus. 

It was Christmas break and the boys were in the area for one reason or another. Yuta’s family flew over from Osaka, saying something about wanting warm tropical weather instead of a white Christmas that year. Johnny lives in the subdivision nearby and he’s been elected or forced to be his younger cousin’s ride to and from their friend’s birthday party at the McDonalds nearby. Taeyong was there with his roommate Kun, property viewing to inspect the available condos closer to school (“No, that elevator operation certificate is expired. That’s definitely a no.” “Agreed.”) Then there was Jaehyun and well he missed his friends. A lot. 

Sure, he was the newly elected president of one of the school’s many organizations and perhaps he did set a meeting earlier that day with the promising recruits from rush week earlier that year and some officers and project managers from the organization as an excuse to be near campus and to say he was productive but he just really wanted to see the guys before classes start and wreck their social lives again. 

This was after all one of their last breaks together as undergrads before the woes of adulting and work and postgrad degrees separate them forever, if Jaehyun were to be dramatic about it.

“I was planning on taking a media studies class. Not sure which one though.” Taeyong supplied as he got a helping of the nacho fries that they had bought along buffalo wings from another store, letting out a hum of approval at the taste.

“Are we taking it together?” Yuta asks, chomping pensively at a nacho while he contemplates the number of administrative hoops he has to jump so that he can enroll in this strictly Communications major class as a Communications minor. 

“We could. I need something light this semester.” Jaehyun chimed in, vaguely remembering what classes he should be taking for his Management major sans the elective. If the flashbacks from the dreaded Hell Semester he just had weren’t enough to convince him to take a relatively easier class, then surely his finance and final thesis defense would be enough. 

“Hey, I think Jongdae hyung’s got a class? He’s pretty nice at least during the org alumni meetings. Not too sure about how he is during the actual lessons though,” Johnny, their resident Communications major, relayed as he scrolled through the Facebook group dedicated to rating professors and classes, “but according to some people there aren’t a lot of requirements and they watch movies mostly.” He finishes sending the review post’s link to their group chat and takes a wing to munch on. 

The group collectively peered through the different reviews for Johnny’s acquaintance- friend- referral before collectively deciding on a class, with a few groans from Taeyong since he had already planned all his required majors for that semester. 

_“COM 123.05 – Women in Film, TTh 8:00 AM, Kim Jongdae”_

**IV. ORIENTATION DAY: Johnny’s Side**  
_T-MINUS 19 WEEKS UNTIL D-DAY_

“Morning, class!” A light voice greeted cheerfully as a youthful woman entered the classroom, laptop in one hand and a canteen of water in the other. Out of all the professors Johnny had seen over his years in school, this was the first time he had seen anyone that put together and he’s seen Doyoung’s brother’s Gantt charts in production class. 

But that was not Jongdae hyung that was- 

“I’m Boa Kwon and I’ll be your professor for Women in Film this semester. I’m excited to know each one of you.” She starts as she sets up her laptop, turning it on with the telltale sounds a MacBook would make, gesturing for Wendy to pass her the projector connection cable. The senior quickly sent an SOS signal to Taeyong and his other friends seated next to him, who in turn, raised his hand meekly and waited for the professor to call for him. 

“Yes?”

“Ma’am, what happened to Professor Kim? We thought he would be the one here right now.”

Professor Kwon only gave the class a smile, plugging in the projector cord onto the adaptor she had brought along as she keyed in her password while explaining. “I’m sure you all were confused when I stepped in, huh? Professor Kim is currently on paternal leave and it’s probable that there was a lack of communication to update the class listings. He and his wife are expecting their child soon so Mister Kim decided it would be best if he took a leave for this semester. Rest assured; I will try to make this class as fun as possible!” 

She finished with a small furrow on her brow, scrolling through the files littered on her desktop and finally opening the document she had been looking for with a satisfied smile.

“Since today’s our first meeting, let’s all get to know each other and the syllabus for this class. You there! Let’s start from you.”

* * *

**COM 123.05 Women in Film**

Prof. Boa Kwon  
bkwon@xxxxxx.com

Consultation Hours: MWF 3:00pm-6:00pm

TTh 12:00nn-1:00pm

(…) 

**iv. Course Requirements**

The course does not have a written final exam. Instead the class will be divided into smaller groups to create a documentary with an accompanying paper with a topic related to the course material. This will help gauge the students’ understanding of the material and apply these theories to analyze the film industry as a whole and as women and their roles within the industry.

Important Dates

02-24-20xx: Proposal Submission

05-09-20xx: Final Presentation

**V. How Does One Propose?**  
_T-MINUS 14 WEEKS UNTIL D-DAY_

Professor Kwon was a straightforward woman. 

From the short month that he had her as a professor, Johnny noticed a few things about her.

She was friendly most of the time despite her moments of bluntness but it was practically impossible for Johnny (or any of his friends for that matter) to ignore the amount of presence and knowledge she carried. She liked giving students constructive criticism, guiding them carefully through the class’ lectures as she weaves in her own anecdotes from her time on set – both in front and behind the camera. 

Her status was almost legendary in the Communications department – she is one of the department’s notable alumni, being an established actress from her youth and an award-winning filmmaker to boot. She’s practically what this class was made for – a woman in film. 

She had given multiple talks and interviews over the course of her stay in the film industry and in the academe and, to be quite frank, it was fucking terrifying for Johnny, especially as an aspiring film maker. 

It would normally be a cutthroat arms race to get into one of her classes with her reputation as the Comm. Department’s pride and as a terror professor. If the Facebook reviews were anything to go by, her friendly disposition with her students is not something that anyone should be taking advantage of. She will give you all the learning you desire but at the cost of your GPA unless you perform well enough. 

Her tastes? High. It was impossible to impress her let alone score that much needed A some students might need. Give her a half-baked proposal or answer? She will return in kind – a tight-lipped smile and a shake of her head before proceeding to explain why they should go deeper and to look for nuance with how they explain things. Showing general apathy and disinterest in class? Yikes. Johnny didn’t even want to think about that kid who transferred out within the first week. 

She had given this period as time for the students to group up and discuss among themselves for their final’s topic. Naturally, Johnny gravitated towards Taeyong who also had Yuta and Jaehyun in tow. 

They were once again in a small huddle, staring at each other, the blank intermediate pad paper they had asked from Jaehyun’s seatmate and the back of Professor Kwon’s head and starting all over again. 

Taeyong perks up when his lightbulb moment comes, opening his mouth to speak before deflating back onto his seat with a loud groan, his lightbulb shutting off as quickly as it came on. 

“Guys, I can’t think of anything.”

“Same.”

“I’ve been staring at the readings and nothing—"

“Why don’t we… “ Jaehyun trails off, glaring at the paper as if it would give out the answers if it was intimidated enough by his stare. 

“We can talk about Kwon’s works? And how do they use the frameworks and shit?”

“Would that be too easy though?” Johnny gave Yuta a look only for Yuta to shrug it off. 

“It’s better than nothing at this point…” Taeyong mumbles, scribbling down the suggestion in a rewording it for extra measure. 

“How many do we have to give again?” Jaehyun sighs, ending his staring competition with Taeyong’s copy of the syllabus, handing back the paper to the blond. 

“You need three topics for your final proposal, dears.” Professor Kwon’s voice chimed as she approached their huddle of tables, making the rounds for consultations or approvals. Taeyong quickly brought her up to speed about their roadblock and even passed the intermediate pad to her for good measure.

“Gentlemen, as much as I’d be flattered for you to do analysis on my own work, I need you to look at something else for your proposals to prevent any bias on my part. I will be free later if you’d like to consult with me.” She looked over at the paper with a shake of her head, passing it back to Taeyong before waking to the class’ podium, a singular clap of her hands with a loud ‘class’ to get their attention.

“Class, I will be extending the deadline for your proposals as there are still several groups that need to find theirs. Feel free to send me an email with your proposed topics by the end of this week. You will need the topic approved before I can sign off any interview recommendations.”

* * *

To : youngho.suh@xxxxxx.com

From : bkwon@xxxxxx.com

CC : joohyun.bae@xxxxxx.com, [taeyong.lee@xxxxxxx.com](mailto:taeyong.lee@xxxxxxx.com), yoonoh.jung@xxxxxxx.com, yuta.nakamoto@xxxxxx.com 

Subject: Re: Final Project Topics for Proposal

Hi Johnny, 

Topic 1 is rather vague. I’d suggest going with either topics 2 or 3 for your final project given that you and your group mates can gather multiple sources and possible interviewees by the time you need to start filming. You must also do these ahead of time so that we can request the department to send letters of intent to the parties. 

I am copying my Teaching Assistant to this email thread. Should you need any clarifications or need to contact me urgently, please feel free to send her a text or an email. 

Joohyun Bae   
0000 000 0000   
joohyun.bae@xxxxxx.com 

I would be glad to meet you and your group mates this coming Thursday. Please be sure to bring your initial topic outlines and a list of preliminary sources for both of your topics. 

See you then.

Joohyun, 

Please be sure to attend the consultation meeting unless you have class during that time. 

Sent from my iPhone.

> To : bkwon@xxxxxx.com
> 
> From : youngho.suh@xxxxxx.com
> 
> CC : taeyong.lee@xxxxxxx.com, yoonoh.jung@xxxxxxx.com, yuta.nakamoto@xxxxxx.com
> 
> Subject: Final Project Topics for Proposal
> 
> Dear Ms. Kwon,
> 
> I hope this email finds you well, ma’am. 
> 
> Kindly see attached the following topics for your approval. May we set a consultation meeting next Thursday regarding the approach we may take once we have the topic? Thank you!
> 
> Topic 1: Women’s Roles in Media 
> 
> Topic 2: Women’s Views on the Ideal Woman through the Lenses of Film
> 
> Topic 3: How Society’s Cultures Can Affect Roles Women May Take in the Film Industry
> 
> Kindest Regards, 
> 
> Johnny Suh

**VI. INTERMISSION: Procrasti-Nation’s Side - Spring Break Edition**  
_T-MINUS 6 WEEKS UNTIL D-DAY_

Things started going into full swing once they had their initial proposal meeting with Professor Kwon. They came to the meeting expecting the worst but somehow, they had managed to get a nod of approval from their outline on Topic 3. With a push in the right direction from her, the boys made huge progress from where they started. From struggling with a singular brain cell to come up with a topic to now gathering lists of people to interview and to schedule with enough time to spare. The group started their initial research – going to the library from time to time in the hunt for sources or new perspectives they can use for analysis. It was like they had turned a new leaf, being productive in their academics and not just their organization work. 

But the momentum stopped when they decided collectively that they can handle the project after all their other commitments.

Suddenly, it seemed like a never-ending stream of requirements left and right and none of the professors have been lighting up – maybe save for Miss Kwon herself who only reminded the class to not forget about their final work due less than two months from now once the Holy Week break was over. 

But our beloved group of seniors still felt like they were drowning. 

There was too simply much to do and too little time. There weren't enough hours in a day to balance a healthy sleep, study and socialize triangle. One would ultimately be sacrificed for the other. 

Johnny and Jaehyun’s shifts as radio DJs turned into cramming sessions buried in their readings while going through the motions of the program as a means to hang out with each other despite their workload saying otherwise. Taeyong’s courses haven’t been the kindest for his free time. As it is, he’s only getting human interaction because of the preparation work for the next JSEC Challenge with Kun, their recruits Shotaro and Yangyang, and their arsenal of secret recipes and spices to share to the world. Yuta’s time had been preoccupied with training and trying to get a breakthrough on his thesis despite many trips to the library or field studies during his study hall period. 

Even their Holy Week break no longer felt like a vacation with the amount of work that needed to be done.

It was around the middle of the break when Johnny heard the sounds his phone made as it vibrated on the table. The senior checked the screen quickly, finally putting down his stack of photocopies down so that he could swipe to answer his friends’ video call. 

Sometimes the best plans come with spontaneity. 

“Guys, road trip. Please?” Taeyong’s voice quietly chimed after their laughter had died down. It was hard not to tell that they were just tired, overworked seniors that just needed a good break, if their eye bags were any indication.

“We could,” Johnny yawns, lazily rolling from his chair to plop down on his bed, “Ma just renovated the beach place and no one’s renting it out.” Excited screeches and laughter filled the senior’s room as his friends made the plans for the weekend. He wanted to stay up longer but his eyes were giving up on him as he slowly dozed off, dreaming of beach sunrises and sunsets, bonfires and barbecues by the ocean.

**VII. Calm Before the Storm - Taeyong Edition**  
_T-MINUS 2 DAYS UNTIL D-DAY_

By the time they came back to school, Taeyong and his friends were swamped with organization work, school work and thesis work. They were only reminded of the project that was due in a few days’ time when Miss Kwon called the group leaders out to draw lots for the presentation day arrangements.

Luck just wasn’t on Taeyong’s side when he saw the neatly written ‘1’ taunting him. Lord strike him down.

“Fuck! Guys how did we forget about this?” Taeyong called his friends for a group huddle during their morning break, eating briskly as he had another class to attend in 30 minutes.

“Okay let’s not panic.” Johnny says, sipping on his iced coffee as he typed quickly on his laptop before turning the screen to show his friends.

‘OPERATION: Impress Miss Kwon’ was bold at the top of the document following his game plan. Taeyong leaned closer to the screen to read, brows furrowing when he saw how tight their schedule was. Today and the next three days would be dedicated to gathering the sources they needed for their paper and reading through them while sending requests for interviews and making the relevant interview questions. That leaves the final two days before their dreaded presentation and panel for filming and editing.

It was a hassle but it was what they were going to do.

“Okay. I call dibs on the interview questions.”

“Jae can you be the speaker for this? I’ll do filming.”

“I’m on editing and filming duty.”

“I can drive us and work on finding the interviewees.” Taeyong said, clearing up his utensils and slinging his bag on his shoulder. “Let’s meet here before we go filming. I think I still have a few cuts so we can manage.” Ugh, maybe he shouldn’t speed eat again.

* * *

They had a tight schedule for the next two days. Today was dedicated to interviewing the kind professors that accommodated them despite it being a bit short notice and the filmmaker they had found in the Arete gallery the day before. Maybe they can shoot some b-roll footage while they were at it. Thankfully, the research portion went smoother than anticipated. Now the group's going to sleep over at his place so that they could get everything done as quickly as they could.

Now, Taeyong had a full tank of gas and he was ready to bring them places, mentally? Taeyong was channeling his inner duck – calm on the outside but paddling for dear life under the water. They can do this. They’ve had so many years of cultivating their cramming skills and now it’s finally being tested. Who in their right minds would even cram a project for a legendary professor? Ah, he and his friends did. 

All he had to do now was wait for his group mates.

Johnny and Yuta came first, lugging a tripod, Johnny’s camera case, their duffle bags and a tray of coffee and knocking on his Civic’s trunk as their way of asking Taeyong to open up when they arrived. He had just finished emailing the people they were going to interview the questions so the interview process would go smoother.

Finally, his last passenger arrived. Jaehyun came running through JSEC, knapsack barely sitting on his shoulder and a satchel on the other all the while holding a freshly pressed dress shirt. (Would it still be considered freshly pressed if it had wrinkles from Jaehyun’s running?)

Now they were off on their adventure.

**VIII. Fast and the Furious - Jaehyun Edition**  
_T-MINUS 2 DAYS UNTIL D-DAY_

Jaehyun would never have guessed that Taeyong was a speed monster. His friend had always been the calm, level-headed one in his chaotic group of friends but never in his life did he feel the amount of terror he had while Taeyong was driving and he thought those high drop rides in amusement parks were terrifying enough.

Yet here he was, clinging on to his seatbelt for dear life as Taeyong zoomed through the traffic, weaving in and out between lanes to get back to his condo. The traffic was too slow in the last area they went to and it hardly got any better. So their fearless leader (and he was truly fearless) kept his foot on the pedal, racing through every time they had a chance to move and moving lanes whenever someone slow was in front of them before abruptly stopping and waiting for the cycle to go on again.

To be fair to Taeyong, they had a long day. They were hungry and they needed to start the initial editing and cutting and paper work but then their lives – why did it feel like their lives were on the line right now.

Jaehyun wished he felt the calm his other friends felt at the backseat. He could see it through the rearview mirror. Yuta was resting his head on Johnny’s shoulder and Johnny was calmly typing on his laptop. Was it only him experiencing this? Was this a cosmic punishment for always cramming? No, it couldn’t be that but holy shit, he just wanted to upchuck his lunch.

“Taeyong, I’m not feeling too good.”

“Jaehyun do NOT vomit in my car or I swear on my diploma I will kill you.”

“Pull over!”

“Jaehyun, the lights green!”

Needless to say, the side of Taeyong’s car needed to be sent to the car wash as soon as they arrived in the condo.

**IX. MURPHY’S LAW: Lost Footage - Johnny Edition**  
T-MINUS 2 DAY UNTIL D-DAY

_"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."_

Murphy’s Law was something no one wanted to test when it came to the important requirements or something life changing was about to happen - exams, college applications, job applications, cramming for a project that means life or death for a senior. Even with the back up, the back up of the back ups and the final contingency, there will be moments that won’t be accounted for. 

It all began when Yuta came back with his SD card.

“Johnny, the footage here isn’t complete. We’re missing the last one from Grace Mary with that professor.” 

“W-wha” Johnny’s chopsticks fell into his ramen before taking the SD card and reviewing it himself. Yuta was right. The video captured here was only a few minutes long before it ends abruptly through the interview. Yuta’s camera had run out of battery and its backup was drained as well so they only had Johnny’s camera that day. 

“Jae! Can you come with me? I got to film some b-roll and maybe some shots of you looking artsy and shit.” Johnny got up to check on his camera and its battery, switching out the main one for its backup as he began packing up.

Jaehyun gave him a muffled response, taking out the headband out of his hair and retreating to the shared bathroom to change out of his basketball shorts and into a pair of jeans.

“We’ll be back!”

And so Johnny and Jaehyun walked back on campus to get Johnny’s car to drive to their chosen shooting location in a bougie part of another city.

_(Taeyong’s car was still in the car wash after Jaehyun threw up out the window. He made sure Jaehyun paid for the cleaning too.)_

**X. Camera Shy - Jaehyun Edition**  
T-MINUS 1 DAY UNTIL D-DAY

Jaehyun knew that some people were camera shy. He wasn’t a part of that community but he respected it nonetheless. When they went up to another university to meet with the professor that was willing to explain the different nuances to gender roles, they were surprised to find out that the elderly woman was camera shy and would refuse to be on camera despite the boys offering to mosaic censor her face if she didn’t want it to be shown. Taeyong was sure he specified it in his email to the professor but there was no point in pressing the issue. They needed to get the woman’s scholarly input. 

Normally, they would make sure that Johnny’s camera was on the interviewee while Yuta’s would be capturing both of them in the frame like those talk show sets unless they were in a public coffee shop. Instead of that set up, Johnny and Yuta’s cameras were trained on Jaehyun instead. 

Though his friends tried to make it look less awkward and unnerving, Jaehyun had a feeling that these shots would not be the best. Heck, he felt a bit uncomfortable with both the cameras on him, making the senior squirm in his seat between questions. So they spent the next hour, going through the interview questions they had prepared along with some impromptu follow up questions after the woman’s explanations. 

Later in the food stall outside the university’s building, Jaehyun found that Yuta’s footage was just him, zooming in for an extreme close up while he was asking the questions and zooming out and going out of focus, blurring his face when it was the professor’s turn to speak. Johnny’s footage, while normal, felt very clinical, with the footage just focused on Jaehyun’s face and the professor’s bare wall. 

Suddenly, Jaehyun loved Yuta’s footage more, extreme close ups and blurriness and all.

**XI.1. MURPHY STRIKES TWICE: In the Arms of an Angel - Yuta Edition**  
T-MINUS 9 HOURS AND 10 MINUTES UNTIL D-DAY

After another round of Taeyong’s drifting and weaving through traffic, Yuta was glad they made it back in one piece. He had already gotten a head start editing the footage they had taken that day while Taeyong was weaving in and out of traffic to get home quicker. They would’ve but they had to make a short stop over for supplies – instant noodles, coffee, red bull, and wine. Lots of it.

He took a break from editing in the car when his laptop notified him that his battery was at the 5% mark. So it only made sense for him to make a beeline to his charging hub and leave the gadget to charge before helping set aside the stash of food they stopped over for in the kitchen.

‘Things should be looking up now.’ Yuta thinks as he watches Taeyong and Kun go about their business in the kitchen, idly snacking on a chip while he listens to the clips they recorded that day, noting down sections that needed their audio amped up or lowered. Johnny and Jaehyun were perched in their own corner, working on the analysis portion of the project after they dumped the footage Johnny had taken to replace the ones they lost onto Yuta. 

There was some semblance of order in their set up. The group had made their “Operation” base in the middle of Taeyong and Kun’s living room – Taeyong and Kun pushed the coffee table to the side to make space for a tiny inflatable bed to fit Yuta, Jaehyun and himself. To be fair, the bed was queen sized but taking into account their combined heights and stature? Yeah, that bed was tiny.

Yuta had brought along extension cords to make a hub for their laptop and phone chargers and claimed the coffee table as his work station whilst sitting on a throw pillow from Taeyong’s couch next to the inflatable bed, laying back from time to time when he feels like his back was hunched over for too long.

Johnny claimed the dining table with Jaehyun, sprawling out their readings and photocopies highlighted to the gods while they wrote the analysis portion of the paper. Taeyong would either retreat to his room when he needed the silence or stay at the dining table as well, transcribing the interviews, and working on the additional annexes they needed for their paper.

Soon, Yuta found himself working in a semi-methodical cycle, believing in the pomodoro method to hard carry him through the process.

One. Brew coffee in the pot or take another cup of coffee if he was out. Maybe he’d add an extra step of throwing out the used beans once the coffee started tasting like coffee-flavored water.

Two. Grab another bowl of jjigae or a snack from their stash to stretch his legs between edits and just to spend some time away from his laptop screen. Settle in the dining table, next to Johnny and pine in silence while the other worked and ate the food slowly.

Three. The final step was to reluctantly leave the dining table to go back to his work station and spend the next hour or so editing the clips while taking smaller breaks on his twitter timeline every half hour or so.

It was fairly easy editing the clips and cutting them down while arranging them in the timeline that would make the most sense for the video, aligning the audio recordings from his phone to the video, add in transitions, subtitles and captions when needed as well. Though this work got repetitive it was something that was very hard to get wrong. Minus the small hiccups they faced with lost footage or awkward footage but they worked through that.

But when things go smoothly there is always a chance that something will go wrong.

Yuta was probably on his fifth cycle when Murphy’s Law struck again.

"’Take the class,’ they said. ‘It’ll be chill’, they said. Look at me now." Yuta grumbles as he slices the clip, his irritation slowly morphing into horror as the darned loading cursor taunts him. A second passes then a minute and before he knows it, his program crashes and hours of work whoosh away with his hopes of graduating along with it. 

And then he sees black.

His baby of six years has died on him when he needed her the most.

**XI.2. MURPHY STRIKES TWICE: In the Arms of an Angel - Johnny, Jaehyun and Taeyong Edition (featuring Kun)**  
T-MINUS 9 HOURS AND 10 MINUTES UNTIL D-DAY

“MOTHERFUCKER!!” Yuta’s scream was heard throughout the apartment followed by a moment of silence (or they tuned out the slew of Japanese curses Yuta was screeching as he frantically tapped at his keyboard and clicked his mouse to recover what was lost) before it finally hit them all – they were ALL going to fail Professor Kwon’s class and they will be forever remembered in the Communication Department’s Hall of Shame. 

Oh no, they could all see it now. Professor Kwon shading a group of students she was immensely disappointed by after growing under her tutelage. That would be the worst part — not incurring her wrath but her disappointment. Is this how it felt like to be on the brink of letting your parents down? It could be the red bull or the wine they drank as they huddled over Taeyong’s phone to supposedly record the concluding voice over but the things they imagined fictional Professor Kwon would say were getting very creative. They would all fail and then become hobos and bring dishonor to their families.

Was it the pressure finally closing in on them? Was it the lack of sleep and caffeine dependence? Possibly.

Kun only made his presence known to the group when he marched out of his room, eyes bleary with sleep, looking at Yuta to his roommate and back again before speaking. “How about a movie break?” Granted it wasn’t the best idea to do when you had less than twenty-four hours to deal with a final that could be the tipping point of passing and failing but it seemed to have calmed Yuta down at least.

It was still disheartening but they still had about eight hours until their presentation in the morning. Hopefully there was an autosaved file or a backup of the video edited thus far. Most of the paper was done save for a few edits here and there and the transcriptions are going well except for that one clip in the entertainment agency where they last filmed in today with all the background noise but they will live. Hopefully.

They put on Tangled in the background, playing the movie softly from Kun’s laptop now propped on the dining table and a few of Kun’s medicine books. Yuta migrated from his spot in the living room with his now revived laptop in tow, quietly and speedily editing through the clips from his last autosave file, pressing CMD+S with every change he makes.

Taeyong quietly nominates for a nap time rotation as he dozes off taking the first shift with him, with the others quietly agreeing as they listen to the movie’s current musical number.

**XII. PROCRASTINATORS ASSEMBLE (read as: Murphy Strikes for the Last Time)**  
_D-DAY_

When people think of seniors, they think cool upperclassmen who just look beautiful and intimidating all the time like they’ve got their life put up together despite everyone being a hot mess inside. And on a great day, Johnny, Yuta, Taeyong and Jaehyun and their group of friends would embody this.

However, that is not the image they projected when they marched into Professor Kwon’s class that day.

The group had barely made it through attendance when they burst into the classroom, heaving, catching their breath from the cross-campus sprint they did from JSEC’s drop off point to their classroom on the third floor of Bellarmine. Their clothes were disarrayed, rumpled and mismatched especially with the case of Jaehyun and Johnny.

They still walked over to their seats, with Taeyong dumping his and Yuta’s satchels unceremoniously on the ground before the group collectively asked if they could freshen themselves up.

Professor Kwon just stared at the group, nodding for them to go and get themselves collected before letting them leave for the restroom.

Yuta was the first one back – shirt now on the right side and his hair not too much of a disheveled bed head state. He collects his laptop and its attachments to bring it to the front, laying it on the teacher’s desk. By some miracle, the video had finished its render while they were running (despite Jaehyun saying that the progress bar was stuck at a certain point for way too long) and now it was time for him to pull up the video, putting it into full screen mode before hooking it up to the projector, showing the file ‘alskjdfa [Autosaved].mp4’ on the white screen.

Nothing could possibly go wrong now.

His friends followed into the room not long after, looking more awake and presentable as they shut the lights in the front of the room and took their spot beside Yuta on the platform.

“Good morning everyone! Miss Kwon.” Johnny started cheerfully. “We’re Group 1 and we’ll be presenting our documentary titled,” he paused looking at the video file’s name before checking back on the printed copy of their paper that was untitled for some reason, “YEOJA, meant to show how society’s cultures can affect and shape the roles women may take in the film industry.”

“We hope you enjoy!” The group finished as Jaehyun flashed everyone a dimpled smile, pressing the spacebar to start the video, filling the room with sounds of their non-descript stock music and Taeyong’s voice doing the introductory speech as the footage of the entertainment building played through.

The group went to sit at the chairs left empty by the front of the classroom to watch the handiwork they did for the past week, reminiscing as if they didn’t just film these shots for the past two days and edited it a few hours ago.

The storm was finally over. They would pass and they wouldn’t fail and be listed in the communication department’s unofficial hall of fame. That was until Yuta’s laptop decided to freeze while the interviewee was speaking mid-sentence, capturing them with their mouth open and their eyes mid blink. 

“Oh no.” Yuta paled as everything went into slow motion. 

The video had closed and a pop-up window with the usual crash information popped up. Johnny, the person closest to the laptop stood up, flashing everyone an easy smile and apologizing for the inconvenience just as Yuta stood up to go and disconnect his laptop. ‘Oh fuck. Fuck. fuck. Fucketty fuck fuck.’ Yuta cursed when Johnny clicked away at the pop up to reveal to him, the class, Professor Kwon and the whole universe the picture Sicheng took of Johnny and Yuta in their last vacation together. Just the two of them. At the beach. With Johnny’s arm wrapped around Yuta’s shoulder. While Yuta looked at Johnny with a soft expression.

“Uh-” 

“NOTHING TO SEE LADS!” Yuta flushed crimson, running to his laptop and unplugging the projector adaptor from the device.

“We are so shocked.” Taeyong deadpanned just loudly enough for the students in the front to hear while Jaehyun flashed them the fakest shocked face he could ever muster. The class, however, fell silent as the screen projected the “disconnected device screen”. How do they react? Do they just close their eyes and pretend they didn’t see but at the same time wow - they were so glad they weren’t in that situation at all, save for Professor Kwon smiling like an amused auntie finally seeing their ship interact. 

Quickly, Yuta loaded up the video again and scrolled to the point where the video was last cut off, turning off the other programs so that the laptop wouldn’t fail him again and reconnected the projector to the laptop. All this while Johnny kept staring at his friend, as his brain connected the dots. ‘Oh..’ 

Yuta and Johnny go back to take their respective seats while the video plays on without a hitch.

**XIII. The Aftermath**  


The semester closed off with the boys’ respective thesis defenses - Johnny with his other documentary about the phenomena of fan culture in different sub-cultures in media, Yuta and Jaehyun’s product defense for their Management classes and Taeyong with his final product showcase, showing what he had learned in Information Design. 

All of them collectively decided that forgetting the Incident **™** of May 9 was probably one of the best decisions they could make until Yuta and Johnny decided they wanted to talk about it. Luckily for them, no awkwardness ensued between Johnny and Yuta (though Johnny was being more affectionate than usual so that might just be a plus for Yuta but he can’t be too sure.)

Honestly? They were just happy they did not die at the hands of Professor Kwon. 

The professor had asked for a copy of their video (with the proper name format mind you) as well as a copy of their printed paper with annexes. 

(Jaehyun had snuck off after their presentation to print a new cover page with the freshly christened title “YEOJA: A Look at Women in Society and Their Reflections in Film”)

>   
>  **COM 123.05 Women in Film : A**

**Author's Note:**

> This could possibly start up a uni au I've been working on but lettuce see for now. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this fic! uwu 
> 
> You can scream at me on [twitter](https://www.twitter.com/cxsmicskies)


End file.
